Scientist at Tuff Gong

[davek]

here is a pretty recent interview with Scientist, in which he discusses working at Tubby's, Tuff Gong, and Channel One.

http://www.unitedreggae.com/articles/n2 ... -scientist

Thanks. Nothing like hearing it from the man himself.

[Geoffrey]

@davek: Fair point about Tubby's hi-pass filter, but I was thinking more about the structure of those tracks, the timing of drop-outs and such.

In Michael Veal's "Dub" book Scientist says that working at Tuff Gong was "a lot of fun" and that he "wished Bob Marley had been there to see how things ended up". I get the impression he was there for a few months at least...

[Geoffrey]

Sorry, the above was just written from memory. Looking at the book again ("Dub: Soundscapes & Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae", by Michael E. Veal - page 139), this is the full quote that got me thinking and made me start this thread in the first place:


"Eventually, Scientist would go on to engineer sessions at Channel One, concluding this phase of his career with a brief stint at Bob Marley's Tuff Gong studio before leaving Jamaica for the United States in 1985. He described his time within the Marley complex: 'Very enjoyable. Rita Marley, Errol Brown and the rest of the staff was very professional and organized. Bob Marley and his empire was not about exploiting the music like other studios. It was a place where musicians felt at home and didn't have to worry about the gangster runnings. I wish Bob Marley was around to enjoy what he started.'"


And the quote from that United Reggae interview is:

"Then I left and go to Tuff Gong and after I went to work at Tuff Gong Channel One closed because they couldn’t reproduce that sound any more. They closed. And everybody who never worked at Tuff Gong, overnight they start working at Tuff Gong. Then I start getting all these threats from the Channel One sound, how I took their sound, how I took their customers and carried it to Tuff Gong."


So it seems clear he did some actual work there. I'm just very curious to know *what* he did there, because as a huge fan of the man's work I'd love to hear it and add it to the "S" section of my collection!

[davek]

I recall Channel One being open in 1985, with the primary engineers being Peter Chemist and Barnabas. But since we are talking 25 years ago, it's easy to be off by a year or so. Sessions were still keeping, but because Kenneth Hoo Kim stopped doing house productions, the label itself went dormant.

It's likely that the work he did was on local 45's, so you may have to use your ears to identify his sound rather to hear his than hope for seeing his name on LP credits.

Last night I went through a pile of 45's, from that era, and I am guessing that the 7" of Michael Prophet's "Loving You" (the old Nina Simone song) was a Scientist mix. The 12" version is mixed differently, but the drums on the 7" have that Scientist stamp. Wicked tune even if it isn't him!

[tron]

I have also found a 12" in my pile credited as scientist being the engineer at gong. i will let my technical reggae 'expert' friend ear listen first as well as the chaka zulu lp and let you know.my ears arent that finely tuned, besides from what i think is good or not.peace.

[Inyaki]

Greets Dave!
Did he actually recorded the drums ( placing mics, etc) or just mixed ( the tapes) afterwards?
( I heard a few contradictory stories about the engineers in those times )

[davek]

Hi Inyaki

Happy New Year

The only times I saw Scientist work was at Channel One (not Tubby's), and he was doing final mix-downs each time. Solgie was with him. While Solgie also did some final mixes (Sly & Robbie seemed to always use him for some period of time), I always got the sense that he or Barnabas were the recording engineers, and Scientist did the final mix to two-track tape.

You would think that if he spent a short time at TG, it would be a similar arrangement.....Errol Brown would be intimate with the studio for optimizing mic placement, as he would know the room's acoustics, and Scientist would apply his mixing magic to finalize.

But my assumption that he did final mixes only is simply based on the limited amount I saw, and the fact that he cut his teeth at Tubby's, where tracks were only mixed down, voiced, or overdubbed. It would be an interesting question to ask Scientist.

One of the interesting developments at Channel One at the time was that the new technology made mic placement redundant: Sly could plug his new electronic kit directly into the board, and sometimes keyboard overdubs were laid down directly in the mixing booth, direct to board. But the "direct to board" approach meant that you lost some of the uniqueness of the the studio's acoustics. I guess "progress" comes at a cost!

[donstrumental]

Dub Duel SCIENTIST VERSES CRUCIAL BUNNY on HAWKEYE

One side mixed by Crucial bunny,other side Scientist all at Tuff Gong

[tron]

confirmation .vinyl .

[donstrumental]

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